~ Loving life and trying to create something beautiful everyday!

Category Archives: FO’s

So, my best friend just had a baby girl. And she is the cutest baby! I don’t even have to lie about how cute she is, which always a relief, because, well, not all babies are cute. And I’ve been so excited about this baby girl, that I’ve had this problem where I just want to crochet all the things. I feel as if every adorable baby girl yarny thing I see on Pinterest or Ravelry must be hooked up immediately.

I just can’t feasibly crochet all the things, so I crocheted several things. I made booties the weekend before my first exam of the semester, and then, after a short break from that to study, I went and made her a matching hat. Because she can’t have booties without a matching hat.

The design for the hat was one that I improvised, and it’s pretty simple. I used Yarn Bee Confection Chunky from Hobby Lobby, which is a super soft yarn. This color is called Rock Candy. I believe I used a J hook, and the hat should fit a 3-6 month old. You can follow my basic design below and continue increasing until you have the size you need, then continue with rounds with no increases until you have your desired length. Of course, the yarn and hook you use will affect the size of your finished item, as well.

Braids:
Cut several lengths of yarn, a little longer than twice the length you want the braids to be. For bulky yarn like this, I cut 9 pieces per braid. You’ll fold them in half (so now you have 18 pieces of yarn, or double the amount you cut) and take the loop of the folded end and pass that through the end of one of the earflaps. You can use your hook to make a little hole if the stitches are tight, and you can also use the hook to help pull the looped end through. Then pass the cut ends through the loop and pull tight. Now, seperate the yarn into 3 equal sections and braid. When you get to your desire length, tie the end in a knot and cut off the excess. Repeat this for the other braid. Sometimes it takes a little trial and error to get the right lengths of yarn, so you don’t end up with little dinky braids, or tons of 6 inch pieces of yarn left.

For the booties, I used a free pattern from Ashlee Marie, which you can find here. This is the second time that I’ve used her pattern for a pair of baby booties and both moms loved them! You can also leave off the scallops for a boy.

I attached the squares using the zipper method by Look at What I Made. It takes a little fiddling to figure it out, and it does take longer to do than joining with single crochet, but it looks quite nice.

I improvised the pattern for the border. I didn’t like that I couldn’t seem to get it to lay flat. But my friend says that she actually likes the way it looks a bit ruffly, so it worked out!

For the border, I did 1 round of sc around, 1 round of hdc around, and 1 round of dc around. In the corners on each of those rounds, I made 3 stitches in each corner stitch to increase. Then, I did a 4th round of 2dc, ch3, 2dc in one stitch, sk 3, repeat around. In corners for the 4th round: 3dc, ch3, 3dc all in corner st. Finally, I did a 5th round of 1sc in top of each dc and 3sc in ch spaces.

I also made a little elephant for her, but that was months ago, when we first found out that she was having a girl. I shared it in another post, but for fun and because I think it’s adorable, here it is again 🙂

The pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry here. It’s worth the money, in my opinion, as the pattern is quite well-written and has instructions for both a an elephant and a hippo. I made the hippo for my nephew which I shared in a previous post. The hardest part of the elephant is stitching on the eyes to make them match. But the crochet stitches make a sort of grid, kind of like cross stitch, so I found that helpful to guide the placement of the stitches when I was trying to make them match.

I suppose that it all for now. I have some studying that I should get back to on my day off from school.

I can hardly believe that it has been nearly 18 months since my last post to my little blog. I’m so sorry to have been gone for so long, but boy, life over here has become crazy hectic! I keep taking pictures of my projects and recipes, writing up patterns in my spare time, and thinking, “As soon as I make an ‘I’m Back!’ post then I can start posting these things.”. Well, that didn’t work out so well.

So, let me fill you in a little on what has been going on in my life. The big news is that I am not only officially a nursing student, but I am now halfway to my RN! This has been my dream for the past 10 years and a goal that I have been actively working towards for the last 5 years. This is the main reason I have been absent from my blog for so long. Nursing school is crazy and amazing and hard all at the same time, but I am enjoying everyday. Even the days I want to cry and pull my hair out because I can’t write another care plan or cram another lab value into my exhausted brain. Well, maybe I don’t enjoy those days so much, but it’s all part of the journey.

This is not my image, I found it on Pinterest and couldn’t find the source, so sorry I can’t give credit. But let me tell you, I have seen plenty of crying nursing school!

More often than not, this is what I’m doing after the kids are in bed. Pepperoni usually keeps me company, often on top of whatever I’m trying to read.

Life is about the same outside of nursing school. My husband is working for a company closer to home with better hours so that’s been a really awesome change for us. My kids are still active in sports. I have a soccer player and a football player. They both want to do swim team, karate, water polo, surfing, basketball, and I think I heard mention of lacrosse the other day. I don’t think there are many sports that they would say “no” to, but unfortunately we just can’t handle all of those activities right now. Plus, they’re kids, I don’t want to work them so hard that they burn out on everything. They also do chess club and art classes after school from time to time.

This is a picture of my oldest son’s tackle football team. This was his second year playing. They had an amazing season this past year! They were undefeated all the way to the Superbowl where they unfortunately lost. Still, it was a great year and we made lots of memories and lifelong friends!

I have still been taking a lot of pictures of my life and of course, my crochet. I even learned how to knit, which is lovely, however I am terribly slow at it. I’ll just post a bunch of pictures and if you have any questions about a pattern or anything, just shoot me a comment and I’ll get back to you!

I made this adorable little elephant for my best friend’s daughter. She is due in March, I can’t wait to snuggle her!!

These were Christmas gifts for my boys’ teachers. I made the mug cozy (first knitting project ever!) and my talented friend made the jazz tumbler.

Please visit my friend Jodie’s Etsy page, SimplyChicBoutique74, to check out more of her items. She makes some really fun stuff and she loves custom orders! I gave her the saying I wanted for the jazz tumbler and she came up with the rest, which turned out even better than I expected!

I designed this hat for my friend’s daughter. I’ve since been working on instructions for it in different sizes. The Chargers hat is 6-12 months and the Seahawks hat is a large adult size.

A quick trip to Joann’s and another to Hobby Lobby and I had everything that I needed to whip up this Halloween wreath. I love it!

This is the Molly Hat from Inside Crochet which is a great UK crochet magazine. If you’re in the US like me, you can buy the e-magazine online, or find the hard copy in some bookstores like Barnes and Noble.

This is my version of the Astrantia cowl. It’s a free pattern on Ravelry. I used the Fibre Company Road to China Light in Ruby for this. It is probably one of my favorite yarns ever!

Well, I think that’s about it for now. I have a few other projects that I’m working on and there are a couple recipes that I’d like to post as well. Now that my “I’m Back!” post is complete, I can start sharing some of my other goodness with you guys again.

Last week I finally bought a crochet book that I’ve had my eye for a while. I’ve been working on some bigger projects and was really in need of an instant gratification project, so I turned to my new book for some inspiration. A short while later, after tweaking the pattern for one of the squares, I had some really cute coasters!

After the book review below, I’ll show you my mods to the pattern so you can make your own Daisy Chain Coasters.

I can’t seem to put down Jan Eaton’s book, 200 Crochet Blocks. I wanted this book after seeing some really beautiful crochet projects done with the squares, such as Cherry Heart’s Sampler Blanket and Coco Rose Diaries’ Lazy Daisy Scarf. The book did not disappoint, the squares are lovely and there is something for any crochet taste.

Also, I love that each square has a “mix-and-match” section at the end of the instructions which tells you other squares in the book that it would mix well with. With 200 squares, it’s helpful to see some suggestions at a glance for selecting a mix of squares that will work nicely together in a blanket. There is also a section about color that outlines how you can easily create your own color palettes. Some of the blocks are shown in multiple color schemes to give you an idea how much color can change the look of the same block.

Daisy Chain Coaster Tutorial

I used worsted weight yarn and an F (3.75mm) hook. My coaster with the picot edge is 5.5″ in diameter and the scallop edged one is 5″ in diameter.
You can find the Daisy Chain square on page 99 of Jan Eaton’s 200 Crochet Blocks.
Complete Rounds 1-4 in one color per the pattern instructions.

This is what your coaster will look like after Rounds 1-4.

Round 5: Chain 6, then skip the next two stitches (don’t count the joining stitch) and then slip stitch in the the next two stitches where you see the arrows in the photo above. Repeat around until you get to the end. You will then have 12 loops of chain 6 spaces around.

To end Round 5, we will do one slip stitch in the last single crochet of Round 4 and then use the seamless finish method with the first slip stitch of Round 5. You can watch the video here to learn this method if the above photos aren’t clear enough. Here is what you do: Picture 1 shows that you pull the yarn through after the last slip stitch as if to fasten off and then thread it through a yarn needle. Picture 2 shows that you insert the needle under the first slip stitch of Round 5 and pull it through. Picture 3 shows that you then insert the needle in the middle of the last slip stitch of Round 5 and picture 4 shows that you pull it under the back loop through to the back side of the work. Then weave in the end as normal.

Round 6: Attach the same color with a slip stitch in any chain 6 space. Chain 5, then make one single crochet in the next chain 6 space. Continue around to the end, where we will end the round again with the seamless finish method. This time, you’ll weave in the end from the beginning of the round first to make sure that the first slip stitch of the round is secure enough to use it for the seamless finish at the end. Then complete seamless finish as instructed in Round 5.

Round 7 has two variations: Scallop Edge and Picot Edge

Scallop Edge: Attach the edging color in any single crochet of Round 6 with a slip stitch. Chain one, then single crochet in same stitch as join. Then, make 5 double crochets in the next chain 5 space. Make one single crochet in the next single crochet. Repeat this around until you get to the end of the round and join with the seamless finish method to the first single crochet of Round 7, not to the slip stitch. Weave in the ends and you’re done!

Picot Edge: Attach the edging color in any chain 5 space from Round 6 with a slip stitch. Next, chain 1, then make 4 single crochets, chain 1, 4 single crochets, all in the same chain 5 space. Repeat in each chain 5 space from Round 6 to the end. Attach with seamless finish method to the first single crochet of Round 7, not to the slip stitch. Weave in the ends and you’re done!
Note: All stitches for this edging variation will be made in the chain 5 spaces of Round 6; none will be made in the single crochets of Round 6.

Please let me know if you have any questions at all about this tutorial. I try to make it as clear as possible, but if something doesn’t make sense, I am more than happy to help you out!

I don’t like being sick. I don’t know anyone who does, but this bug that I’ve got right now is really a nasty one! And sharing is caring, you know, so I gave it to my husband and he’s now down for the count, as well. Thankfully, the kids have been spared. So I’ve had plenty of time to lay around this past week and work on some projects while catching up on old TV shows. Right now, we’re watching The Shield, which we never watched when it aired, and it’s really good!

Months back, I made several Sunburst Granny Squares with no real intent for what I was going to do with them. This is one my very favorite motifs to make, they come together very quickly and I just love the look of the stitches.

I’ve been wanting to make a crocheted cushion for a while, so when I finally got around to buying a pillow form, I dug the squares out of the bottom of one my many bags of yarn and started hooking them together. I attached them with slip stitches through the outer loops. Lucy from Attic24 has a great tutorial on this here.

Since I didn’t make these squares with a cushion in mind, it turned out they were a bit too small for the 12×12 pillow form I wanted to use. So, after joining them together, I did a row of hdc all the way around which pretty much did the trick of making the front big enough. I added 3 extra hdc in each corner stitch to avoid buckling.

Then I crocheted the back of the cushion right onto the front, using Cherry Heart’s tutorial here. She has two tutorials on this, but it worked just fine for me using the first only.

Finally, I added some buttons to secure the back. Isn’t it cute?! I really love how it turned out! My sister-in-law is going to take it home but I have several more of these squares in the same colors, so I am going to make another to stay on my couch.

I am in love with this yarn that I am using for a ripple cowl. I bought it from the Mendocino Yarn Shop while on vacation a few weeks ago. It is sooooo soft! The yarn is Canopy Fingering by The Fibre Company. It’s a blend of baby alpaca, merino, and bamboo. I am using three colors: kaffir plum, rosehip, and blue crown.

This pattern is a Japanese chart that I saw on Pinterest months ago and have been admiring ever since. I use mostly worsted weight yarn, but I knew I wanted to use a light yarn for it and this was perfect. You can find the chart here. It’s all in Japanese, but is pretty straightforward as the chart is broken down into the first several rows. If enough people are interested, I wouldn’t mind writing up a post on how to follow this chart, so let me know if it’s difficult for you to decipher.

What little boy doesn’t love wearing a cape? I have one who just can’t have enough capes! When I found this adorable embroidery pattern by Love the Blue Bird, I asked C what he would like me to put it on and the answer was, of course, a cape. I had a few capes left over from his birthday party last year, so I put one in an embroidery hoop and got to work. I used to do a little cross stitch years and years ago, but I haven’t done any embroidery before. I think it turned out pretty well. C wants me to add an alien, an astronaut, and Jupiter! So, I have to look up some more patterns and add them to his space cape. His birthday party is this weekend and he says that he wants to wear this cape to the party.

If you want to see how to turn a pillowcase into a cape like this one, check out my post about C’s birthday party last year, here.

And finally, the hummus! This is one of our favorite snacks. I have tried many, many recipes for homemade hummus and have found what I think is the best recipe out there. It is Alton Brown’s recipe, called Hummus for Real. I’ve never made the slow cooker chick peas called for in the recipe, I just use a 16 oz can of chick peas (also called garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed. I buy the tahini from Sprouts, which is a farmer’s market style store. Places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s should carry it as well.

I think this is the best recipe out there and it is a great base for making flavored hummus. I’ve added in roasted red peppers and it’s killer. Also, you can grill some jalapenos or Anaheim chiles on charcoal grill and add them to the hummus.

I’m off to take some more cough medicine and hopefully ditch this awful bug! The doctor said I’ll probably cough like this for another week, though. I have a birthday party to get ready for, so I’ve got to fight through it!

Hello to all of my lovely readers! I’m not sure how many of you are still here, I’ve been gone from my little blog for so long it seems. Sorry about that! Life has a way of taking over my bloggy life and next thing I know, it has been months since I have written a post. The good thing is that I’ve been busy working away on some great things in my life and that nothing terrible is at fault for keeping me away (thank you to the readers that sent me nice little messages over the last few months checking in with me, everything has been busily wonderful!).

This post has a lot of pictures of what I’ve been crocheting and where I’ve been traveling, so I hope you don’t mind if I just let the photos do much of the talking!

For Mother’s Day, my husband and boys took me to the local ceramics shop and we painted a few items. They had this noodle bowl which has a hole in it for holding chopsticks. I, of course, immediately thought “yarn bowl!!!”. When I picked it up after they fired it, I was so happy with how lovely it turned out. And, naturally, C thought it would be a great place for Kirby to hang out when I’m not using it for yarn.

Our friends are expecting a baby boy in a few months and of course I had to make a blanket for the little guy. I can’t wait to meet him! We have been friends with this couple since high school. I have actually known the dad since we were 12 and he’s been my husband’s best friend since they were in Jr High! Which is kind of funny because although my husband and I had a lot of mutual friends, we went to different schools and didn’t meet until I was 19.

This little lovely is a pincushion that I made and I think several more are in order. It’s just a fun little project and keeps my yarn needles from getting lost. You can get the pattern over at Cherry Heart. She has a wonderful blog that I really enjoy browsing, so do go take a look!

This is just a little sneak peek at the colors I’ll be using for a clamshell cushion. This is another of Cherry Heart’s patterns and I’m really enjoying it.

We took a very fun trip up to Mendocino, CA. It’s about an 11 hour drive from where we live, so it was quite the drive, but so worth it! We were there to see our friends get married. The ceremony was right on the bluffs, with the ocean in the background and it was just gorgeous. Of course, I had to find the LYS in town and I picked up some very lovely Canopy Fingering. It’s blend of baby alpaca, merino, and bamboo and it is crazy soft! I’m using it to crochet a ripple cowl from a Japanese chart that I’ve been admiring for quite some time.

I’ll be posting a new pattern soon, as well as a few new recipes. I’ve so missed being on my blog and I hope ya’ll forgive my absence! Go……….create something beautiful today!

I have a new pattern to share today for my Chevron Infinity Scarf. I saw a similar scarf for sale on Etsy months ago but it had been sold and there wasn’t a pattern available for purchase. So after having it in the back of my mind for months, I finally tried my hand at making my own.

Here is what I came up with! You can use any combination of colors that you’d like. I wanted something bright and was going for kind of tribal/Azteca colors. I don’t think the colors looked exactly “tribally” together, but I still love the result. I chose 7 colors and crocheted them in a random order. I used the random stripe generator to get started and then made up my own scheme after I got started. So, pick out some colors and follow my pattern instructions below. Have fun!

Chevron Infinity Scarf

Difficulty: Easy – Great beginner project!
Stitches used: ch and sc

Supplies:
Hook: G (4.25mm)
Yarn: Worsted Weight in various colors to achieve your desired look. I used a combination of Loops and Threads Impeccable and Vanna’s Choice. Sorry, but I don’t know the yardage for this project. That also differs on the length you choose to make it.
Yarn needle for weaving in ends.

Notes:
*The drape is a little stiff with a G hook, so you may want to try a larger one, like an I. I was hoping it would soften up with wear, but it’s still a bit stiffer than I’d like after having worn several times over a few weeks.
*Start and end with the same color to help hide the join when you attach the two ends together in a circle at the end.
*To make the scarf wider, extend the length of the chain in increments of 8 (so instead of 32, chain 40 or 48).
*Crocheting over the ends is a real time saver since there can be a lot of ends to weave in if you change colors as often as I did. Just hold the tails behind your work along the top of the stitches from the previous rows. When you make your stitches, insert the hook under the stitch indicated and include those tails. You’ll work right over them and they’ll disappear like magic!

Instructions:
Ch 32
Row 1: 1sc in 2nd ch from hook, 1sc in next 6 chs, 3sc in next ch, 1sc in next 7 chs, sk next ch, 1sc in next 7 chs, 3sc in next ch, 1sc in next 7 chs to end. Turn.

Row 2: Ch1, 1sc in 1st sc, sk 1 st, 1sc in next 6 sts, 3sc in next st, 1 sc in next 7 sts, sk 2 sts, 1 sc in next 7 sts, 3sc in next st, 1sc in next 6 sts, sk 1 st, 1sc in last st. Turn.

Repeat Row 2 until scarf is desired length, changing colors as little or as often as you’d like to achieve your desired color scheme.

Join the two ends together to make a circle. You can sew them together or crochet them. I chose to crochet them together with slip stitch. It’s a little funky, because you have to hold the ends at an angle to match up the peaks and valleys of the chevrons as you go along.

Fasten off and weave in ends. You’re done!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my pattern and will make your own scarf soon!

Go………create something beautiful today!
-Heather

PS…I am linking up this post over at Hookin On Hump Day at My Merry Messy Life. Go check out all the other fun projects that have been linked up to the party!

A few days ago, I went to a baby shower for my nephew who is due in March. I am so happy for my brother-in-law and his sweet girlfriend to welcome this baby into our family! I have two nieces on my side of the family, but this will be my first nephew. As a boy mom, I am really excited. I crocheted several items for my new little nephew that I wanted to share.

First, I am a serious procrastinator. That being said, I didn’t start his blanket until just a few days after Christmas. All of a sudden I realized that if I didn’t start it right away, there was no way it would be ready in time for the shower. I started hooking up squares in every minute of free time I had and, unbelievably, I finished it in exactly two weeks.

I am so happy with how this turned out. The pattern is the Retro Circles Blanket by Three Beans in a Pod. I made 42 squares and joined them 6 across and 7 down. I joined them with single crochet stitches which gives the raised border between the squares.

The border for this blanket is 1 round of hdc in white, then I did one round of moss stitch in each color, followed by a final moss stitch round in white. Moss stitch is * 1sc, ch1, sk next st * around. In the corners, I did 1sc, ch 1, 1 sc all in the same corner stitch.

Here is a little closer look at the moss stitch border. I just love how the colors seem to bleed together.

I can not believe that I was able to make this in only two weeks. My wrist was hurting pretty badly for a week or so after I finished, but of course I kept on crocheting, so that didn’t help matters. I actually didn’t even touch a crochet hook yesterday but I think I need a few more days like that for my wrist to feel better. I need to join a support group or something! “Hi, my name is Heather and I can’t stop hooking!!”. 😉

One last look at this blanket because I really love how it turned out!

So I thought I was all done with gifts for this little boy, as I had made him the blanket, a hat and a Sunburst Crochet Pillow Ball. And the shower was in 3 days. But then I was shopping for yarn for a different project and found a cotton ombre in the same colors I used in the blanket. And it was on sale. So, of course, I HAD to make him a little toy to go along with the blanket. I just had to.

How cute is this little guy?!

I love this little hippo! I need to make another for my boys, before they’re too big to snuggle with stuffed animals. This is the Harriet Hippo pattern by Fugly Crochet. I just love that name, by the way!! We used to say fugly all the time as kids and I don’t know many people who say it. The pattern also includes an elephant made with the same body design and a different head. It’s not a free pattern, however it is well worth the couple bucks I paid for it. The pattern is very well-writen and includes many pictures to explain how the pieces come together. I can’t say enough about how clever this design is. There is no sewing together at all! It’s pretty fun to join the pieces with crochet and suddenly see it all come together.

On Ravelry, there are many comments about this hippo coming out front heavy so it stands on it’s nose. Having read that before I started, I added some ceramic pie weights to the stuffing in the feet and body. I like these because they are pretty heavy for their size and also washable. They are also too big to escape the crochet, but I still recommend putting them inside a little fabric liner or stocking if making the toy for a baby.

The pattern calls for safety eyes but I stitched the eyes on with a scrap of black yarn. I just didn’t feel like going to the store again!

I am so excited to meet my new little nephew! My brother and his girlfriend really loved the gifts I made which is awesome because anyone who knits or crochets knows how great it feels when your handmade gifts are loved and appreciated. And I’m so happy I made the hippo at the last minute because that was their favorite item of the things I made.

I hope you enjoyed this look at what I’ve been working on instead of blogging these last few weeks!

Go…….create something beautiful today!

-Heather

PS…I am linking up this post over at Hookin On Hump Day at My Merry Messy Life. Go check out the other fiber arts projects that have been linked there as well!

This is just a quick post to share my latest crochet project. This may very well be my favorite thing that I’ve made so far in my short crocheting career.

The pattern for this is the Divine Hat by Sarah Arnold. I just discovered this pattern recently, even though it seems to be one of the most popular hat patterns on Ravelry. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted a bright yellow hat with a big grey bow. I used Vickie Howell’s Sheep(ish) yarn in yellow(ish) for the hat and grey(ish) for the bow. I love the way this yarn looks with the hat, it’s super soft and has a beautiful sheen to it.

To make the bow, I chained 14, then did 13 hdc across and repeated that for 14 rows. Then I just pinched together the middle of the rectangle and wrapped it with yarn to hold it in place. Then I sewed the middle of the bow and the edges of the bow to the hat, only going through the front part of the stitches so that the inside of the hat doesn’t look messy with the grey stitches.

This really is my new favorite hat, I just love how it turned out. I wore it today and received a bunch of compliments on it. I hope you enjoyed my take on the Divine Hat!

How is everybody today? I’m loving the weather we have happening here, it’s finally cold and feeling like Fall in So Cal. I know, we don’t really have “seasons” here, just cool and hot really, but I have been soooo ready for some cool weather!

Today, I want to show you all a super cute project that I finished a couple months ago. I’m a procrastinator, big time, but the reason it’s taken me so long to show this one off is that I was going to give it away as a baby shower gift. But I never did. I’m a little sad that it’s so cute and just sitting in one of my yarn bags. But eventually I’ll give it away to a little cutie and hopefully they’ll love it.

I got the idea from KendraKat on Ravelry. I made my pillow ball just like she explains on the project page for hers. Please check it out here for the instructions to make your own.

The squares are made of one of my favorite motifs which is the Sunburst Granny Square. I only completed the first 4 rounds of the pattern to achieve this size. I really do love this square and one of my WIPs right now is a pillow made of them. I have enough for the front side and a couple done already for the back. I can’t wait to finish it and put it on my couch!

Anyhow, here are a few more pictures of how this project came together:

The liner would have been a lot faster to make had I been able to use my sewing machine. It needs to be serviced, I’ve been a bad owner.

I stuffed it really full so it would be more of a ball shape and less of a cube shape. These squares had to STRETCH!

I’m also working on a few toys for my boys. I had never made any toys yet with my crochet and I’m just finishing up my first amigurumi. I don’t know why it took me so long to start one, but I finally did. C requested that I make him a Kirby and a Prince Fluff from the video game Kirby’s Epic Yarn. How oddly fitting, huh? Kirby is done, but faceless. I will hopefully get Prince Fluff done today or tomorrow and then I can give them both faces. Right now, C is playing with Kirby but making him run into things because he has no eyes.

I’m hoping you’re all having a lovely day wherever you may be! Now go……..create something beautiful today!

I’m so excited to be able to share another free pattern with my readers! This is my Pumpkin Infinity Scarf.

I learned how to crochet almost exactly 1 year ago. At the time when I decided to learn, I did not have much faith that I would even be any good at crochet, let alone that I’d be making my own patterns in just under a year later. So, if you’re just starting to crochet, keep it up!! And if you want to learn, but you haven’t yet brought yourself to buy a hook and yarn, go to the store and then come home and watch some you tube videos! You’ll be so happy you did.

This infinity scarf uses only chain, hdc and the star stitch which, once you get used to it, is super easy to do! So I would say it is a beginner to advanced beginner pattern. There is a link below in the instructions to a you tube video on the full star stitch.

EDITED 12-03-12: Please note that although the above videos do show that you turn your work at the end of each row, my pattern is worked in rounds and has NO turns. You’ll be joining the first and last stitches of each round with a sl st and then starting a new round with either a ch 2 or a ch 3 depending on the round you’re working. You can work in rows by making a ch 2 or ch 3 and then turning and then sew the edges together at the end if you choose. This might make the scarf reversible, but I wanted it to look very clean and seamless on the front so I chose to do rounds which makes a very noticeable difference between the front and back sides.

To begin the full star stitch at the start of a new row, you will first ch 3. Insert hook into 2nd chain from hook and pull up a loop, then do the same in the next chain, then do the same in the top of the first 3 stitches of the previous row. There should be 6 loops on your hook. Next, yarn over and pull through all 6 loops. This makes the spokes of the bottom half of the star. Chain one to close the stitch. Next, insert hook in “eyelet” created by the last chain 1 and pull up a loop. Then, insert hook in last spoke of the star stitch you just made and pull up a loop. Then insert hook in same stitch from previous row that you made the last spoke of last star in and pull up a loop. Then, insert hook and pull up a loop in next two stitches from previous row. There should again be 6 loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through all 6 loops and chain 1 to close. Continue until end of row and join to top of first star stitch with a slip stitch.

To complete the full star stitch, chain 2, then make 2 hdc in the eyelet of each incomplete start stitch from previous row. Do this to end of row and join to the first hdc (not the ch 2) with a slip stitch.

This all sounds much more complicated than it really is! Please watch the videos to see how easy it really is and to clear up any confusion from reading the instructions. It’s hard to write this out in a way that makes sense!

Here is a detail photo so you can see what your stitches should be looking like:

Pattern Instructions:

Round 1: Chain your desired length, being careful to end on an odd number. I chained 231 for the scarf pictured, which ended up being 64″ around when finished. Hdc in ridge of each chain to end. Join with first hdc with a slip stitch. Take a moment to weave in the end from the beginning and join the two bottom chains.

*Note: if you choose not to hdc in the ridge, but in the loops of the chain, your scarf will not look symmetrical on both sides as the one in the picture does. If you don’t want to be able to tell which side was the top and which was the bottom, be sure to make your first row of hdc in the ridge of the chains. It seems to take a little longer, but is well worth the results.

Round 2: Follow instructions above for the full star stitch, beginning with a chain 3. If you get to the end of the row and end up with one too many hdc for some reason, don’t despair!! Just insert your hook into that “extra” hdc for 7 loops on your hook and continue on. No one will ever know the difference and you won’t have to pull out all your work thus far.

Round 3: Follow instructions above to complete the full star stitch, beginning with a chain 2.

Round 4: Ch 2, then hdc in each stitch across to end of row. Join to top of 1st hdc with a sl st.

Rounds 5-6: Repeat Row 4.

Round 7: Follow instructions above for the full star stitch, beginning with a chain 3.

Round 8: Follow instructions above to complete the full star stitch, beginning with a chain 2.

Rounds 9-11: Repeat Row 4.

Round 12: Follow instructions above for the full star stitch, beginning with a chain 3.

Round 13: Follow instructions above to complete the full star stitch, beginning with a chain 2.

Round 14: Repeat Row 4, but do not join with sl st. Instead, use the seamless finish method shown in this video here.

Weave in ends if you did not do so at beginning and with seamless finish. Now, put on your favorite tee, throw on some cute boots over your favorite jeans and rock that gorgeous infinity scarf!

I really hope you’ve enjoyed my pattern. Please feel free to share it, pin it, like it and of course make it! But PLEASE, link back to my page and give me credit for my pattern. Also, feel free to sell finished items made with this pattern, but again, give credit to me as the author of the pattern used. Karma works for you or against you, peeps! 😉

Go…………create something beautiful today!

-Heather

PS…I am linking up over at The 36th Avenue. Please go check out some of the awesome projects others have been up to! Great stuff over there, as always!!